Tuesday, 5 July 2016

After a five year journey from Earth, Juno the solar-powered spacecraft squeezed through a narrow band, skimming Jupiter's surface, avoiding the worst of both its radiation belt and its dangerous dust rings.

Now the spacecraft will orbit the planet once every 53 days until October 14, when it will shift to a tighter 14-day orbit. And after about 20 months of learning everything it can about Jupiter's interior and its atmosphere, it will eventually succumb to the harsh environment and plunge into the planet's crushing centre.